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Advice re next steps

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Hi All,
I would like some advice on the next steps:

I have 11 years experience, from Hardware support, desktop (on DOS - Vista), Server experience from Netware 5, NT 4, W2K and W3K, Groupwise/Exchange, I have some Linux Redhat Experience (Builds are no problem, Kickstart NFS, HTTP, FTP including sw raid etc, I have setup NIS and NFS, DNS,DHCP,FTP etc).

I would like to get a Linux Cert, possibly RHCE. I was looking at the course costs and they are frankly expensive. Anyone have any experience of going abroad - ie eastern europe. I did CCNA in India, it was quite good training, less crammed than the Pix course I did here.

Also is this a good route for me, I enjoy support/ sys admin role, I owned my own non-IT business (Which I sold to a national company) so I don't really want management.

I would also like to do some DBA type course, I have a bit of MySQL knowledge and have setup MS Sql 7.0/2000/5 servers.

What I am saying is my knowledge both of RedHat and SQL server is fragmented, some stuff I have advanced knowledge on, some simple stuff is missing, I never use it, ie at work i have moved all our Windows DNS/DHCP to Linux (A requirement), but I hardly know about Gnome/KDE as I tend to use the command line.

Advice about progression and which is best (ie Oracle or SQL server) would be greatly appreciated. I would like to become a DBA ( for at least part of my role) and I am willing to take a backward step if needed. I learn fast (forget nearly as quickly, joke). Also courses that people recommend (especially low cost abroad (also low cost here)).
Thanks for the help

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To be honest, first of all I would decide what field I want to concentrate in. Ok you have x amount of years in IT, but now it seems like you're at a cross-roads: Carry on down the support route or start the DBA route.

Saying that...

If you just want a Linux cert, have you looked at Comptia's Linux+ cert? Then decide about the RHCT, then the RHCE.

Or if you want to do a DBA cert... An entry level one would be MySQL's CMA. As for which one of the two big boy's are the best, well currently Oracle has held the number one spot for years, however MS is gaining. As I'm a MS kinda person, I would say MS SQL, but that is just personal preference - added to that the two MIS systems that we currently use are MS SQL based, the library system we support is MS SQL based and Sharepoint is MS SQL based

DBAs don't use MySQL. Only developers who don't understand relational theory do. If you want to be a *nix DBA then Oracle, Sybase and IBM DB2. On the Windows side MS SQL Server dominates completely, to the point where there's really no competition or reason to learn anything else.

Of course, there are other "free" products like PostgreSQL and Firebird to consider. But most corporations don't use them because it's difficult to get outside support. You have to spend time and money training and retaining in-house talent. And nobody wants to do that nowadays.

Thanks guys, it would seem to make more sense to carry on with Windows Platform, so I will start looking more at sqlserver. I think that the Linux+ cert does make more sense, most of what I have done is Windows based, the Linux stuff is more looking after things when other people are off (1 time it was months over sickness) I like Linux but my CV really reads Windows with networking and firewalls.
Regards
Mike

I heard MySQL and PostgresSQL were pretty capable these days. Some people are migrating some Oracle DB's so at least for some applications it must fit ?

I think most of the missing features are now in version 6 and they are now owned by Sun ? Maybe another year and it will finally be 'production ready'. Of course it all depends on what you need from your DB.

I've seen companies in the distant past dump Oracle on cost, recently I've seen large commercial companies use PostgresSQL for their web sites. Ok it's not their core business mission critical apps, but it is being used.

I think most companies go for the percieved 'safe option' when they are planning a project, that generally means purchasing middleware from a big vendor. I've seen thie results of these decisions go both ways, so it is not always the low risk option.

Only developers who don't understand relational theory do.

Click to expand...

I would think the developers who wrote MySQL know a thing or two about it. Yes there are a lot of Web Developers comming through these days that perhaps don't have much formal training but they aren't all stupid.

I agree learning Oracle or MSSQL is the safe option, however going the open source route might pay off for a few.

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